


to these gods you cannot pray

by leosunderground



Category: The Wicked + The Divine, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, Engagement, Established Relationship, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, The fact that there isn't a tag for WicDiv aus makes me lose faith in the world, Voltron Cast are the 2100's pantheon, WicDiv AU, but they get least terrible ending, how do I even tag this mess, no one actually dies, yet - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-23 04:36:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13182489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leosunderground/pseuds/leosunderground
Summary: Every ninety years twelve gods return as young people. They are loved. They are hated. In two years they are all dead.The year is 2101. It’s happening now. It’s happening again.  No one thought the gods would return, but they are here.When Keith has his life turned upside down and is told he is going to die in two years, he fears for everything he loves, so he runs, and doesn't look back.But Keith and Shiro were in this together since before, and even death isn't going to bring them apart.“There is a man.” Keith says softly. “My fiancé. He means the world to me, he is the only one who stayed with me. The only one who never left.” He turns away from Ananke, suddenly he can’t look her in the eyes, she would see too much of him, far more than he is willing to reveal. “I love him more than I can bear. I can’t drag him down with me in this.” He turns back to her. “When I’m gone, will you take care of him?”Once again, we return.





	to these gods you cannot pray

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all: Band!AU; Singer!AU; Gods!AU.  
> Me, an intellectual: WicDiv!AU.
> 
> Once again, we return.
> 
> Hi, Leo here.  
> This came to me when I was driving back from cousin's house on Christmas, even though I already have another WicDiv planned, way more planned, this happened. Inspiration is a pricey bitch and you listen when it wants.  
> This is a The Wicked + The Divine AU, WicDiv is a comic series published by Image Comics, probably one of the best things in this age. They fun times, they have bad times, they die everytime, it works well for everyone.  
> Please go read The Wicked + The Divine if you have no need for your heart, and is looking for POC and Queer representation.
> 
> Less Sheith than adverted. You can find me @ [sheithsunderground](http://sheithsunderground.tumblr.com)
> 
> Hm... Listen to Cosmic Love by Florence + The Machine if you want a mood during this.
> 
> Have fun
> 
> Now with a [mock cover](https://sheithsunderground.tumblr.com/post/169349069922/to-these-gods-you-cannot-pray-every-ninety-years) by yours truly.

 

When people speak of the supernatural it is always as if it is something otherworldly, belonging to myths, religions, or fairy tales, out of reach and beyond the comprehension of humanity. But here is something to think about: the human brain cannot comprehend anything beyond what it can perceive from the real world, if you can imagine something it is only because it is possible, that is the truth.

Gods walks among men, every ninety years twelves gods are made anew as young people, they are everything to you, they are nothing to you, they change everything. You love them, you hate them, your new religion, your heresy, your best orgasms.

For two years they are the center of the world.

In two years they are dead.

This is also true.

After the fall of the 2010’s Pantheon we thought they wouldn’t return, inspiration lost to humanity forever. But once more, they are here.

The year is 2101. This is their story told once more, rise to fall, how stardom and divinity consumes and how they died and are killed for humanity. Make no mistake, we killed them and they died for us.

Once again, we return.

 

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Memento Mori

24 December 2101

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When Keith sees her, a single frail figure standing in the middle of his backyard, he wants to run, run as fast —  faster and faster still, as when he ran to get the scholarship that is getting him through college, run as fast as he ran away from the foster houses, from the people that hurt him, he wants to runs because running saved him back then, and she will kill him if he stays.

He can't run. One look at her eyes and it is all that it takes, he is paralyzed, ground swallowing his feet even though it isn't. She looks as old as time, sand taking female form, alive when they all saw her die. Murdered. Everyone saw when Persephone tore her to pieces in _ self defense _ , she would have killed the Pantheon back then as she killed Lucifer, single snap of fingers to the head. And Inanna. And Tara.

They all know her face now, even if it isn’t the same as last time. But the presence is the same, the name is the same.

_ Ananke _ , he tries to say, but no words leave his mouth, they leave hers instead as he falls, the world swallowing him in, spinning and twisting everything he is until the only thing he can hear is Ananke’s voice booming all around, the only thing in the universe. 

 

You are of the Pantheon.

You will be loved. 

You will be hated.

You will be brilliant.

Within two years, you will be dead.

You are the rue of men, before death you always come.

For oathbreakers your wrath falls swiftly.

Not a day later nor a day sooner.

The knowledge that punishes in the dark.

For ages past. In ages come. And ages to be.

 

When Keith emerges, gasping for breath and glad to have ground beneath his feet again, he starts crying. He doesn’t why, doesn’t know what he is feeling, but it is simply too much too soon and too fast. He is still Keith and so much more, so old and so new. Keith looks at his hands, touches his face, there is a stranger in his body, he  _ is _ a stranger in his body. 

“We meet again, Horkos,” Ananke says, and Keith realizes that she is crying, her black skin looking blue in the moonlight, holding her hands to her chest as they tremble. They are moving towards each other, a force, a sensation of missing drawing them close, “I’ve missed you.” She finishes with sobs echoing free, arms tight around him.

As if she didn't just kill him.

 

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Horkos

25 December 2101

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Here lies some kid 

who thought himself a god

28 December 2101

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No one has heard of Horkos before, though admittedly Keith didn't know such a deity existed before either, until he became him that is. It is still a foreign thought, unsettling in most ways. “I'm a god,” he says in the night, every night to no one at all. “I'm going to die,” he has said this to himself every day since he ran away at Christmas, leaving everything behind in fear of this.

Being Horkos was like finding a piece of himself that was always inside of him and he had never noticed before. After Keith stopped panicking and calmed down, he knew how to be Horkos, what he could do, his role, his mission. How to inspire. 

Godhood comes with instructions, Keith realizes, given voice in the form of Ananke.

“Horkos is…” she begins, and stops for a moment to look away, beyond Keith looking for something before, perhaps something after. “You are the personification of oaths, son of the goddess Eris, daimon of strife.”

“Personification of oaths?” Keith inquiries, hands held tight on his lap, scuffing his left hand’s fingers together. “Why have I never heard of him? I’m sure there was never a Horkos in previous recurrences. I can tell from the pronunciation that it is… Greek? Like you know, Aphrodite and Zeus.”

“Horkos is a relatively small deity, people always go back to the Olympians when they think of the Greek.”  Ananke takes a sip of the tea that was set in the table in between them. “You are a punisher of those who break oaths that are made in good faith.” There is a trace of smile in her faces as she acknowledges Keith presence again. “You can say you are an upholder of justice.”

At her words something builds up in Keith at these words, he can't help but be like this, anger flares in him as it always has and he lashes out.

“Is this a joke to you?” He slams his hand on the table as he gets up, the cup Ananke was drinking from spills, tea dribbling down towards the floor. “You came into my place in the middle of the night and you do this to me!” Keith gestures to all of himself in frustration, arms moving rapidly.

Before his hair was all black, now there are five white strips from his hairline to his neck, increasing in size until they are funneled again and joined as a single one. In his left ear there are fourteen small piercings circling his earlobe, thirteen of them were silver but a single one is gold. His clothes had changed when he emerged as well, whereas he was wearing his comfortable lion themed pajamas, he is now wearing a two piece red tuxedo with a gray undershirt, accompanied by a dark purple oversized overcoat.

He didn’t bother taking his clothes off, nor did he bother showering, or eating for the previous days since he scurried away to the shadows at Ananke’s suggestions, the shadows swallowed him like home - they weren’t, and took them to wherever she had suggested. A place in construction for one of the new goddesses.

“You killed me!” Keith yells finally, tears falling freely, he had a life, he had plans, he had Sh- “How could you do this to me?” Keith’s voices fails him as he cover his eyes dejectedly.

During his entire breakdown Ananke doesn’t move, she stays still as time never has for anyone, never taking her eyes away from him, looking into his soul he would realize later, and only when he stopped shaking did she move. There was a fluidness in her movement that didn't belong to someone half her age, no matter how old she is, in two strides she already has Keith in her arms again, same as the day he had ascended.

They are both crying when he finally returns the hug. For a murderer she gives great hugs.

“I'm so sorry.” Ananke begins, lifting his head from her chest, caressing his hair back. “I didn’t choose you for this, I would never choose anyone for this. This is too cruel to anyone.” She stops for a moment, simply breathing, this hurts her too. “I just find you, and make it easier for you to come back, otherwise it would take even longer.” She starts drying the tears from his face as speaks next. “I told you of the Great Darkness, time is something we don't have.”

Ananke had told him of the Great Darkness, the footage that survived from the 2015’s incidents were horrifying in many ways, but now he had a name for it, he had the story behind it. And it made it worse, Doomsday terrible. He couldn't run away from this, Keith had to play his part so if at least  _ him _ could live on, save inspiration for another saeculum. To her words Keith can only nod.

“I take no pleasure in my role, Keith,” Ananke says somber, never stopping running her wrinkled fingers through his hair, this is the first time she has called him by his name, not Horkos god-meant-to-die. “To look after you, knowing your fate shouldn’t change, is…” She trails off, and simply continues to hold him for a moment that feels too long. Keith wonders if this is what feels to be held by a mother, knowing that her son has to die.

“Do you have someone you to look after you?” Ananke inquires, snapping her fingers making all the mess in table disappear.

“NO!” Keith shouts in desperation, hands moving to hold her by the shoulders. “The opposite really, I want you to make sure that no one can find me.”

Ananke looks at him fondly, with eyes of someone who has lost too much, he can't help but wonder how much she has lost to this. “Is there someone… You want to spare from this?” She speaks after a moment.

“There is a man.” Keith says softly. “My fiancé. He means the world to me, he is the only one who stayed with me. The only one who never left.” He turns away from Ananke, suddenly he can’t look her in the eyes, she would see too much of him, far more than he is willing to reveal. “I love him more than I can bear. I can’t drag him down with me in this.” He turns back to her. “When I’m gone, will you take care of him?”

“Oathkeeper, consider that done.” Ananke says. “We’ll do better this time.” She finishes as get gets up and leaves the room.

In a way, she stays true.

 

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The no good pinkie promise.

28 December 2101

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Stranger Gravefellows

January - February 2102

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January passes and along with it comes Seshat, and she is so young, barely fifteen and Keith can’t, he didn’t contain his fury, he took out half of Ishtar’s hanging garden from her wannabe castle when lashing out on Ananke because _ how could she _ , that was a child that she was dragging into this, she would burying a child for the sake of humanity.

When he calmed down, he took Seshat under his wing, or she took him under hers. No one knows really. He was tired of being alone, he never felt lonely before, you can’t miss what you didn’t have, but now, now that he left the only place he was able to call home, there is a hole gnawing in his chest, threatening to consume him whole. She was older than she looked like, a mind beyond their time and an easy companion. She also swears like no one else, all variations of fuck seem to be her favorite words. Pidge, as she prefer to be called, took refuge in the arms of her family, as any child should, and started to explore her divinity with whether or not they are all going to die.

In the same breath the words left her mouth Keith realizes that Ananke hasn’t told her everything, only bits and pieces of the truth to string her along, keep her entertained so that she won’t dig too deep. When Keith went  to ask Ananke about it she only said in a forlorn voice “ _ Whatever is necessary.” _

It made him feel like he’d be the one burying a coffin.

In many ways Keith didn’t feel comfortable around his fellows gods, Nodens - no one knew if he was the celtic Nodens, or if godforsaken, Lovecraft’s Nodens - was a flirt, he flirted with everything that walked, even if there were rumours of a past or present relationship with Ishtar. Keith had a bet with Seshat whether or not Nodens would move on from his flirting days. Hephaestus was kind and understanding, perhaps too much as he always sided with Nodens in the many discussions they had, even if he appreciated the taller God’s sarcasm the company he keeps wasn’t one he enjoyed.

What Keith really loved was performing. Before he hated being in a crowd, all these people staring at him made him feel out of his skin, criticized for things he didn’t have control over, that isn’t to say that he doesn’t feel that now, but when he performs it all becomes a part of the show.

Keith thinks of Shiro mostly, not that he speaks any words during his performance, the Tongue of Gods is unrecordable and untranslatable, it is all raw feeling and emotions, an experience that can’t be fully understood by words. He gives parts of him, memories of when he was happy with Shiro being clouded with the angst of the separation, now dirty with the stain of what he has become. He cries during his performance, fully exposing himself in ways that he did only let Shiro see, and the crowd cries with him, some of them passes out in the floor, some of them just drop to the ground and continue shaking, but no one leaves.

Keith leaves though. After all is done and he is feeling his entire body aching, he only stays long enough to see Seshat’s performance and she is beautiful and perfect, and loving every second of it. He is proud of her, but mostly he is angry, she is going to be dead so soon.

When he is about to climb into his bike is that he hears him.

“Keith! Wait!” He’d knew that voice anywhere, at any time and any situation, he would be able to pick it out in a crowd as he can hear his own thoughts. It is the voice that comforted him when he cried, it was the one he bickered with over what to have for lunch, and who was supposed to take the trash, it was the one he fought with when their bill was filled with McDonalds again, it was the one that said  _ I love you _ to him everyday for five years.

When Keith feels Shiro hug him from behind with his one arm, resting his chin on Keith’s head, as he did many times before, holding their bodies close, time stops for a moment.. 

Eternity passes. He takes in the smell of their aftershave, of their cloth softener, of the ridiculously expensive perfume they got from Shiro’s parents at Christmas that he got a sniff of before everything went wrong. He doesn’t want to leave, this is the place he belongs, this the place he carved his space in, the one he fought for and it was taken from him.

No. 

The place he left.

“Keith, I have been looking everywhere for you.” Shiro says, voice hoarse and deep and Keith realizes that Shiro is crying, but he is too. “I love you, please come back home.” He finishes, holding Keith even tighter against his body, a lifeline held only by the bond they have forget along the years.

At these words Keith starts struggling against Shiro’s hold on him, he can’t come back, and if he stays he is going to crack. This isn’t fair, he had a life before this happened, they had a ten year plan for their life together full of everything they could never do as children and that they could achieve together.

Keith closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. One more moment.

He thinks of the time he first meet Shiro in a uncommon chilly October evening and he realized that he was way more into tall guys than he originally thought and that Shiro was really that pretty, perhaps he was truly that gay. One week later Shiro would fall face first into mud when trying to ask him out in what was a poorly concealed date, and how that date turned out to be first time Keith genuinely had fun in his life. How tightly Shiro would hold him when Keith drove them in his bike on their trips everywhere and anywhere, mocking - or genuinely, he never knew, screaming at how fast he was going, they went from beaches to mountains and how in one of these trips Shiro had his arm taken from him by an angry, mindless mob that hated them for being alive.

He remembers the nights spent on the hospital, that few fateful days that he did his best to do not be consumed by the thoughts that Shiro wouldn’t wake up, and after that the nights Keith curled around Shiro in their shared bed, holding him so close because they were the only thing that felt real in that cold bedroom. Shiro crying because they were only that cold because they couldn’t afford both the heating bill and Shiro’s medical care. How he used to go with Shiro to all his doctors until Shiro yelled at him that there are things that he must do alone.

How one day Keith pulled a simple silver ring from his pocket and Shiro pulled another like the idiots they are.

Keith loves this man so much.

But not enough to kill him.

Nothing was worth Shiro’s pain, not even their love, not even Keith himself.

With a snap of fingers Shiro is off him, when he hears his yell of pain Keith wants to carve a part out off himself, when he hears Shiro say  _ please _ in a voice that he only heard when they were in that hospital’s bed, Keith wants to die. But he doesn’t look back, if he did he would stay, and that was the only thing he can’t do.

His fingers are digging deep into his palms, his thumbnails has carving a bloody spot in his left ring finger, trembling as he is he walks forward into the shadow of a wall back into the Underground, the darkness swallowing him whole.

For hurting Shiro he belonged in darkness either way.

 

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Leave all your love and your loving behind

9 February 2102

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Playing Gods

2 March 2102

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“I saw Shiro the other day.” Keith says while crouching in the ground by his bike, working on fixing the air pipe. “Again.” He says after a while. “And again.” He twists the screw more tightly than needed. “It seems you are not doing your job.”

Even across the garage in Ishtar’s castle Keith heard Ananke’s disinterested  _ tsk _ , she surely was making herself heard. “I try, child.” She sighs, while going through her phone, how and why someone as old as Ananke had a phone was still beyond his understanding. “But your man is a tenacious as you are-”

“He is not my man.” Keith shrugs.

“He is certainly your man, Horkos.” Ananke laughs. “Just because you are away doesn’t mean your love has grown any lesser.” She pauses for a moment, before looking away. “Unfortunately or not, love doesn’t quite works like that.” Even from the other side of the garage, Keith can hear her taking a deep breath. “Also, move on to the exhaust pipe.” Picturing Ananke riding a bike was probably more entertaining than it should be.

“Seems like you’ve had some fun in the past.” He says, fishing for more answers, after all any info on Ananke is info on Ananke.

“I’ve had my fair part of lovers, yes. But know this, Horkos.” Ananke voices out. “Love is about pain. How much are you willing to hurt someone and how much you are willing to be hurt by them, people may be beautiful like roses but we are all covered in thorns, you may pick the flower but whether it will continue to flourish depends on your care, on how much blood both people are willing to sacrifice so the other can bloom.” Sounding stern she continues. “I’ve hurt everyone I’ve ever loved, and they have hurt me in return. But we loved nevertheless. We were happy nevertheless. We died nevertheless.” Ananke carries a special type of pain, one that can be only be achieved by living too long and watching everything one loves wither away. Looking straight into his eyes she continued. “How much are you willing to hurt the man you love for the love you two have?.” She inquires, with a voice as deep and distant as when she turned Keith into a god.

“Nothing is worth Shiro’s pain.” Keith replies without even a moment of thought, this is the only thing he was ever certain of.

“Then my dear, you don’t love him at all.”

He shoves the bike down and stands up, anger filling every inch of his body, and it is overwhelming like it always have been, he was never able to control his temper but this time he feels the shadows move in with him, responding to his anger and drawing into the middle of the room.  _ I could bring this entire place down _ he thinks, and in the next moment he realizes that he isn’t himself, and that hurting people like that without reason is something that he could never do and falls to the ground.

“Why…” He stutters out, words failing him. “Why do I have to die?” He whispers with all the sorrow of someone who was in love with living for the first time.

Ananke is quiet and not for the first time, but this time it is different in a different way. She is thinking, Keith realizes when he looks up to her, she shines in the bright environment of the garage and for once she doesn’t look as old as dust, she looks young and afraid as she holds on to the hems of her dress, breathing in and out.

“Truth to be told, you could technically live a little after the two year limit.” She starts with a voice that doesn’t sound like her own. “For your sake, and everyone else, you shouldn’t.” Ananke gets up from her seat and starts walking towards Keith. “You saw what you just did, without even wanting to. It will be like that, more and more often, and you will have less and less control. The human body wasn’t made to handle divinity, and it consumes and degenerates. It will leave you a husk consumed by hubris of what you once were. And before you realize, we will have brought forth another dark age and humanity will be consumed by the Great Darkness.”

Ananke’s voice is filled with a sadness of someone who has been through this before, and if Keith is right, she has. Ananke was an young goddess once, loved and hated, lost everything more than once, and once were there was the Destroyer now there is Necessity.

She will do what she must to ensure that the Great Darkness doesn’t return, whatever it takes, be it taking their lifes or her own, a new Ananke would rise in the midst of them if it is necessary, and it always is.

“Just promise me, that you won’t touch Shiro.” Keith says to her with all the power he can must.

Her silence is what kills him.

 

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Whatever is necessary

2 March 2102

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All battle songs are love songs

5 May 2102

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All of the Underground is connected, it is a much of a physical place as it is an idea of one, it spams everywhere the seed of a land of the death takes roots, and humans have always been fascinated with dying. If you are a Chthonic deity you can access the Underground from anywhere, a snap of a finger or at the birth of a wish, and you are surrounded by shadows. If you are not, then you go under, as beneath as the earth as possible and as close to death as you dare, then the darkness will take you.

If you yell loud enough, that is.

Keith is already running by the time he can hear Shiro calling his name, the darkness shortens the distance between places and he makes it in time to pull Shiro from the train tracks, both of them falling back into the shadows as the gust of the following trains knocks them back. They roll back in the Underground, until Keith is fixed to the ground with Shiro’s straddling him by the hips, one handley pinning him down.

“Finally got you.” Shiro exclaims with a wild smile adorning his face, Keith knows that smile, it always was followed by Shiro doing something fun, good for the both of them, leaving him with a feeling that he was glowing.

In the moment it takes for Keith to relax into the familiarity, he notices that Shiro is glowing in the dark.

In the next breath, he throws Shiro off him, initially he wanted to reverse their position but he feels sick to his stomach, and the world is tilting and spinning, he can’t breath and there is no air, no air no air, and he is gasping for his throat when he falls face first into the ground.

“No.” Is the only word that leaves Keith’s lips as he lays in the ground shaking, tears streaming down his face. “You were meant for better than this.”

“She wasn’t supposed to touch you.” He says when he finally hears Shiro moving and circling him. “You were supposed to live.”

Shiro doesn’t say anything as he move, feet making no sound in the darkness of the Underground, it takes a moment but he lays down on his side facing Keith, eyes locking in each other as he tentatively lays his hand on Keith’s face. “Everything is going to be okay.” He promises.

Keith allows himself to look at Shiro, and he is truly glowing in the dark, he is guiding light after all, but that wasn’t all that changed. There was a single tuft of white hair falling into his face, his hair having grow in the time they haven’t seen each other, he looks younger than he ever did with the three piercings lining his nose and strangely the tight, tight leather jacket and the purple undersuit fits and it makes Shiro looks like he came out of a movie. But what is most eye catching of it all, is the single marking across his face, covering his eyes, an arrow pointing upwards.

Keith isn’t dumb, he learned his lesson and has studied their situation, so he knows what that means, it is the rune for  _ god _ that is painted across Shiro’s face, and that can only mean one thing. 

Shiro is dead like him.

Keith raises his hand to caress the marking beneath Shiro’s left eye. If he says it out loud, it will make true and unchangeable, he will doom them.

They are doomed either way.

“Týr.” He says in the dark.

“I’ve missed you.” Shiro replies.

 

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Týr

5 May 2102

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They hold each other in the darkness. This is what Keith loves the most about their relationship, their intimacy was what held them together, physical or otherwise. Sex was great, amazing even, but it was amazing because it was built on their relationship, all carefully constructed for each other, an extension of Keith leaving Shiro’s meds out for him, or Shiro’s throwing Keith’s missing shoe across the living room because he just couldn't find it.

This is different, because they are different, and it is a miracle.

In the darkness, holding each other as close their bodies allow, with his hand caressing Keith’s face, Shiro performs for him.

What most people doesn't realize about Shiro is that he is always afraid and that he is a better and brave man because of it, facing the world when you'd face away from it takes a special kind of strength. And it shows in his performance.

 

_ cut _

 

Keith is enveloped by it before he realizes and when he opens his eyes again he is at the backyard of their shitty apartment, and Shiro appears from the backdoor looking frenzied and calling his name. He looks through every corner of the backyard as if Keith would be hidden behind that old slider.

 

_ cut _

 

Shiro is at the local police station, has been for the third day in a row, some of the cops reassure him, some ignore him, some just taunts him. On the fourth day one of them makes a remark about Keith finally leaving the stubby. Shiro makes for a swing. He doesn’t leave until the tenth day.

 

_ cut _

 

Shiro makes it home in time to see Keith in the news, a pop star, a god anew, Horkos. When the place where his arm used to be starts to hurts, he wonders if that one cop was right and Keith finally left him for a better life, no god should be seen with someone like Shiro by their side.

 

He wonders if the space that Keith filled in his life will also hurt.

 

_ cut _

 

Everything hurts and Keith can see himself, his back turned to Shiro. It takes a moment for him to realize that the pain he is feeling was Shiro’s when he collided with the wall before, he feels the scraps in his palm as Shiro struggles to get up from his position in the ground as he watches himself disappear into the shadows.

 

He watches as Shiro makes his way to the wall and starts to hit it, feels as his hand starts to bleed, and is scared as the sounds becomes so wet. Fortunately Shiro stops before any real damage was done, and just stands still forehead glued to the brick. No tears fall, only blood.

 

_ cut _

 

I miss you.

 

_ cut _

 

I love you.

 

_ cut _

 

Why did you leave me?

 

_ c u t _

 

Keith tries to blink the tears away, and he is back at their backyard, Shiro’s back towards him as the man is sitting cross legged in ground, hand toying with something with hidden by the grass.

It is the same thing all over again. Ananke appears, black skin blue in the moonlight. She moves silently into the night, white dress dragging through the grass, stopping before Shiro, her expression is unreadable.

“What would you sacrifice to be with him again?” She inquires, voice distant and neutral.

“Anything.” Shiro replies with the same certainly as he said  _ yes _ to Keith.

Ananke hums for a moment, her right hand caressing her chin. “The twelfth god was always the hardest to find.”

And Shiro falls.

 

You are of the Pantheon.

You will be loved.

You will be hated.

Within two years, you will be dead.

You were the first to walk among your kind, dethroned and forgotten you rise again.

For salvation you gave your hand to the wolf.

For salvation at the end you will die.

Your justice always hangs true.

Might One, victory is sung in your name. 

Forever.

 

Shiro emerges a god.

And Keith realizes she didn’t touch him.

 

_ cut _

 

Overwhelming is the only word that comes to mind, the raw emotions that bleed from Shiro’s memories consume his senses for the duration of the performance, he’d never thought that Shiro could spiral like that just from his absence. There is nothing that he can say that would fix the situation, sorry, wouldn’t cut, not for this at least. But he can salvage this, he has to.

“I didn’t leave because of you.” Keith begins. “I mean, I left for you. I thought that if I left you wouldn’t be dragged into this. But look at what good it brought.” He stops for a moment to collect himself and rub his hands. “I just hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you.” Keith finishes, feeling the shame consuming himself for the situation that they are now. “I thought if I left she wouldn’t come for you.”

“Keith.” Shiro whispers. “Oh, Keith.” He passes his hand through Keith’s hair. “This, this isn’t your fault. Nothing about this is your fault.” The look on his face is a soft as it is in the morning light, when they used to wake up side by side. “We were engaged, Keith. We should have at least talked about this together. Didn’t you promise to always stay by my side?.”

Keith tunes out the rest of what Shiro is speaking, his speech turning to white noise as his last words keeps repeating in Keith’s head:  _ Didn’t you promise to always stay by my side? Didn’t you promise to always stay by my side? Didn’t you promise to always stay by my side? _

Oh.

Keith gags in the irony of it,  _ of course _ , he left, he broke his promise to Shiro, the one he swore to abide to his dying breath and now he is being punished for it. Not even the god of oaths escapes punishment for perjury, and punishment has to be the most unfair. So the one that he loved the most, loves the most, has to pay the price in his place.

He was the one that doomed Shiro to this.

The weight of the thought is crushing him, but if Shiro finds out about it he would never let it go, he would try to ease it as best as could, they would keep fighting about it until the day they died, it is so soon. This is Keith’s burden to carry, take it to his grave. 

He deflects.

“I hoped.” He swallows the lump in his throat, interrupting Shiro and forcing himself to speak. “You’d be too old for it.”

Shiro stops talking in the same moment the words leaves Keith’s mouth. His faces goes through a multitude of expressions, mouth closing and opening as he digests the information. “Oh god, don’t call me old you punk.” Shiro exclaims, pushing them both into a sitting position.

“You are the one that looks like a punk.” Keith replies.

“I do, don’t I?” Shiro replies exasperated.

They look at each other, serious expressions in both of their faces, and they are laughing. The sounds fills the shadows of the Underground, and suddenly the darkness isn’t as threatening as it looks. Maybe they can do this after all.

“May I?” Shiro says, showing Keith his engagement ring that he had taken off the night that he vanished off into the darkness with Ananke. Keith nods slowly and Shiro slides the band easily into his finger ring, gently kissing each of his. “I love you so much, Keith.” He whispers to him as he touches their foreheads together.

Keith loses track of time after that. He missed this so much. He missed Shiro so much. How could he ever bear to live without him?

“What are you doing?” Keith asks when he notices Shiro scrunching his face.

“I’m just thinking.” Shiro replies. “I mean, one hundred and twenty over nineteen is six dot thirty one something per month.” He trails off. “Sounds doable to me.”

“What are you even talking about?” Keith inquires back, talking maths in the dark was never his forte.

“Our ten year plan.” Shiro says with that wild smile that makes him look young, wild and free. “One year and seven months. Come on, cherrybomb! We can do it.” He sounds so young and carefree, not like someone whose death is imminent in two years.

Keith will make the rest of this man’s life worth it.

“Yes.” Keith replies, kissing Shiro in the lips for the first time since they separated. “Let’s live, Takashi.”

  
  


>  >  >  >  >  >  >  >  >  >  >  >

Here, in your arms

6 May 2102

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**Author's Note:**

> Did you have fun? Did you cry? Come yell @ [sheithsunderground](http://sheithsunderground.tumblr.com), I beg you.
> 
> Other than that, no Shwwos or Keefs have been hurt in the making of this, only my feelings.  
> I think it is ironic that Týr is a god of Justice, and Horkos is a god that punishes perjury, and Týr as Shiro doesn't has his right hand, in a way, Horko as Keith's is Shiro's right hand. That totally isn't why I went with these gods in first place.
> 
> Also, please go read The Wicked + The Divine, it is amazing and it deserves more love. For WicDiv readers, if you haven't realized while reading, Laura has taken over the role of Ananke for this. It was a headcanon that I developed while writing, in every recurrence a different god stays behind and takes on the role of Ananke, last time it was Laura.
> 
> Peace out.


End file.
